Making a Ransomware Payment? It May Now Violate U.S. Sanctions

Thinking about making a ransomware payment? If so, you may want to think twice before doing so as it could land you in trouble for violating U.S. government sanctions.

This week the Department of Justice unsealed a grand jury indictment against two Iranian hackers allegedly responsible for the SamSam Ransomware. As part of this indictment, for the first time the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also publicly attributed cryptocurrency addresses to individuals who were involved in the converting ransomware cryptocurrency payments to fiat currency.